Question Hard drive won't power on after wrong adapter

[jeremyschultz]

I have a Buffalo LinkStation 220 NAS hard drive that was powered down for a room painting and I just turned it on but accidentally with the adapter for a 3D printer. I switched to the correct one but it has not powered on at all since I started—no lights on front or back. I don't know if the adapter overloaded it; I didn't see any reaction when I turned it on. I know I gave it time to fully power down before unplugging it.

HD adapter: 12V-4A, 48W
Other adapter: 24V-7.5A, 180W

 

[ex_bubblehead]

You likely blew either one or more fuses in the drive enclosure or damaged the drive, enclosure and its electronics with the overvoltage. Hope you have a recent backup of the data, you're going to need it.

 

[USAFRet]

I have a Buffalo LinkStation 220 NAS hard drive that was powered down for a room painting and I just turned it on but accidentally with the adapter for a 3D printer. I switched to the correct one but it has not powered on at all since I started—no lights on front or back. I don't know if the adapter overloaded it; I didn't see any reaction when I turned it on. I know I gave it time to fully power down before unplugging it.

HD adapter: 12V-4A, 48W
Other adapter: 24V-7.5A, 180W

You probably cooked something.

It might be as simple as replacing a fuse.
Or could be worse.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Doubling the input voltage with the wrong power adapter likely fried the logic board in the NAS, or at the very least popped a fuse.

If you're not concerned about the data, get a new NAS.

If you need the data:
If you're lucky, power didn't get anywhere beyond the logic board and you can get another NAS and transfer the hard drives over to recover the data on them. However if the drives aren't recognized in another system, contact a data recovery specialist like drive savers. Mechanical hard drives generally contain over voltage protection built in (TVS Diode), so even if a higher voltage reached the drives, your data is likely (but not guaranteed) to still be there, so there's a decent chance of recovery.

 

[fzabkar]

If you can show me photos of the innards, I may be able to help you with a DIY repair.

 

[jeremyschultz]

I have a ticket open with Buffalo tech support to see what they say. The drive should be backed up but I'd rather access it here if I can. The price for data recovery is high ($1500–4K) so I'd go for a DIY solution if it has a chance.

 

[fzabkar]

contact a data recovery specialist like drive savers.

I can recommend reliable, competent data recovery companies for a fraction of what Drive Savers would charge. However, let's hope it doesn't get to that.

 

[jeremyschultz]

Buffalo says the other adapter fried the unit and only recommended their data recovery service. They said nothing can be done because "the damage is internal to the chassis." I'm asking for clarification on that because I don't know if that means all components are affected or what.

 

[stonecarver]

Can't hurt to pull the drives and plug into another external caddy. There is a 50/50 you might get lucky and you might not.

 

[USAFRet]

Buffalo says the other adapter fried the unit and only recommended their data recovery service. They said nothing can be done because "the damage is internal to the chassis." I'm asking for clarification on that because I don't know if that means all components are affected or what.

There are two things in play here.

1. The enclosure.
2. The actual HDD.

Just as a guess, I'm thinking the enclosure got smoked.
The physical HDD is probably OK. Probably.

BUT....removing it may require it to be put in an identical Buffalo enclosure, to maybe read the data.

 

[fzabkar]

Buffalo says the other adapter fried the unit and only recommended their data recovery service. They said nothing can be done because "the damage is internal to the chassis." I'm asking for clarification on that because I don't know if that means all components are affected or what.

Like @stonecarver says, I would connect the drive to a SATA port in your computer and see if you can access it. If it has a Linux file system, Windows won't see it, but tools like DMDE will. There is also a free Linux Reader for Windows. I'm assuming that there is no encryption.

That said, first get hold of a multimeter (a cheapie DMM will suffice) and we'll do some basic tests of the HDD PCB. Depending on the model, it may have a TVS diode or an e-fuse. I expect that the 12V side will have taken a hit, while the 5V side would have been shielded from it by the 5V regulator in the NAS.

TVS Diode FAQ:

http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=100&t=86

BTW, I expect that Buffalo are saying that "nothing can be done" because they employ IT techs only. An IT tech is just a board changer -- they usually have zero knowledge of electronics. That requires an electronics tech.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Buffalo also likely financially benefits from advising you to buy a new one instead of repairing it.

Even if it's not formatted in a way that your OS can read, you should be able to see if the drive at least powers on and is functioning by plugging it in.

 

[fzabkar]

Buffalo also likely financially benefits from advising you to buy a new one instead of repairing it.

Even if it's not formatted in a way that your OS can read, you should be able to see if the drive at least powers on and is functioning by plugging it in.

The OP wrote that "Buffalo says the other adapter fried the unit and only recommended their data recovery service". This suggests that Buffalo employs IT techs who can recover the data from a working drive, but have no-one who can actually repair the hardware if it has "internal" damage. I guess that means that they are limited to replacing external parts like the AC adaptor.